Refrigerating device comprising a subdivided interior

ABSTRACT

A refrigerating device is subdivided, by means of a thermally insulating intermediate base, into two areas wherein the temperature can be controlled independently from each other. The intermediate base comprises a plate which is bordered on the front and rear edges thereof by extrusion profiles.

The present invention relates to a refrigerating device having a housing that encloses an interior space subdivided by an intermediate base into two zones whose temperature can be controlled mutually independently.

It is customary practice in the assembly of refrigerating devices to mount the housing initially having hollow walls, then into its hollow interior to inject a synthetic resin that expands within the hollow space thereby filling it and finally solidifies therein. However, a problem arises therein due to the intermediate base's generally being less thick than the housing's outer walls. If the outer walls and intermediate base form a contiguous hollow space requiring to be foam-filled, then even though the foam will expand efficiently within the outer walls' wide hollow spaces, only a small amount will penetrate into the intermediate base so there is a risk that parts of the intermediate base will not be foam-filled and so form cold bridges between the refrigerating device's temperature zones. Said problem is difficult to resolve economically. Albeit the amount of synthetic resin used could be increased to insure that the foam will also fill the intermediate base, that is associated with increased material costs and will result in increased density and hence poorer insulating efficiency of the foam in the outer walls. Even though it could be made easier for the foam to penetrate by widening the intermediate base, that would mean losing some of the refrigerating device's useful volume.

The approach has therefore been adopted of fabricating the thermally insulating intermediate base separately from the rest of the housing and inserting it subsequently into the housing's interior space. Compared with, for instance, a solution where the intermediate base is deep-drawn as a single piece together with an interior container delimiting the refrigerating device's interior space, fabricating and mounting the intermediate base separately is, though, far more effort-intensive and expensive because two sets of form tools will be required for each model of refrigerating device: In each case one for the interior container and another for the intermediate-base parts. If a plurality of models of a refrigerating device are to be fabricated that mutually differ substantially in the width of their housing, that will be a not insignificant cost factor.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a refrigerating device that has an interior space subdivided by a thermally insulating intermediate base into two zones whose temperature can be controlled mutually independently and that is able to be fabricated having different housing widths cost-effectively and with the aid of a small set of specific tools.

Said object is achieved in that said refrigerating device's intermediate base includes a plate bordered along its front and back edge by extrusion profiles. That will enable the plate along with the extrusion profiles to be prefabricated in the form of long tracks not yet exclusive for a specific housing width of the refrigerating device and will further enable the lengths, required for assembling a refrigerating device having a specific, given housing width, of said parts to be cut from the tracks as required.

The plate is preferably bordered along its lateral edges by injection-molded parts. Said injection-molded parts can be used identically in each of a plurality of device models having different widths so that they can be mass-produced cost-effectively.

For powering energy-consuming or signal-processing components mounted in or on the intermediate base it should be provided with a plug-in cable connector able to establish a connection with a complementary plug-in connector belonging to the housing. To simplify assembling the intermediate base and mounting it in the refrigerating device the plug-in connector is preferably attached to a rear end of at least one of the injection-molded parts.

The plate preferably comprises an insulating inner layer made of porous material and, for its protection, at least one outer layer that is impervious to humidity. A cable channel between a plug-in cable connector and an energy-consuming or signal-processing component is expediently recessed in the inner layer.

In particular an illuminating means and/or temperature sensor can be provided on the intermediate base, preferably on its underside, as an energy-consuming and/or signal-processing component.

An electronics module able to serve, for example, to display a temperature that has been measured in one of the zones in the interior space or set as a desired temperature for said zone and/or to set said desired temperature can furthermore be attached to the front edge of the intermediate base.

Control and/or display elements of the electronics module are preferably freely exposed through a window in the extrusion profile attached to the front edge.

The extrusion profile attached to the front edge can also be divided in two, with the electronics module being in that case arranged between the two parts.

Both types of extrusion profiles can also be used on one intermediate base.

A seal is preferably attached between the front edge of the intermediate base and a door of the refrigerating device to effectively separate the interior space's two zones. Said seal can be secured optionally on either the intermediate base or the door. It is attached preferably to the intermediate base because tolerances in the door's installation height will then scarcely be able to adversely affect of the seal.

An air-distribution chamber that communicates with a cold-air feeder pipe extending in a wall of the housing and, via distributed openings, with the zone located beneath the intermediate base is furthermore preferably arranged on the underside of the intermediate base.

An air-collecting chamber that communicates via distributed openings with the zone located beneath the intermediate base and with a warm-air extraction pipe extending in a wall of the housing can analogously be arranged on the underside of the intermediate base. The housing comprises the carcass and door so that not only a wall of the carcass but also the door is to be regarded as a wall of the housing.

The air-distribution chamber and air-collecting chamber expediently each extend over a part of the intermediate base. An illuminating-means housing for an illuminating means illuminating the zone beneath the intermediate base will then expediently be arranged on a boundary between the two chambers.

A horizontal securing profile into which lateral edges of the intermediate base engage is preferably attached to each side wall of the housing for installing the intermediate base.

If the side walls have a metallic inner coating, then said inner coating is expediently interrupted at the height of the intermediate base to prevent an exchange of heat between the zones past the intermediate base via the inner coating.

Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference made to the attached figures:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerating device in which the present invention has been realized;

FIG. 2 shows a section through the refrigerating device shown in FIG. 1 along the line II shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the intermediate base;

FIG. 4 shows a section through the front edge of the intermediate base;

FIG. 5 shows a section through a lateral edge of the intermediate base and a part of a side wall of the housing supporting the intermediate base;

FIG. 6 shows a section analogous to FIG. 5 according to an alternative embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an air-ducting housing provided for attaching beneath the intermediate base; and

FIG. 8 shows a section, analogous to FIGS. 5 and 6, showing an intermediate base with an air-ducting housing mounted thereon.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerating device based on which the present invention is to be explained. The device has a carcass 1 and a door 2. The inside of the carcass 1 is subdivided into an evaporator region 3 above, below the cover of the carcass 1, a top, first refrigerating region 4, and, separated therefrom by an insulating intermediate base 5, a bottom, second refrigerating region 6. Housed in the second refrigerating region 6 is a pull-out box 7. A second pull-out box is in the first refrigerating region 4 suspended directly above the intermediate base 5 on the side walls 35 of the carcass 1. The first refrigerating region 4 is usually subdivided by a plurality of supports for items requiring to be refrigerated into compartments arranged one above the other, although those have been omitted from the figure so that the rear wall 8 of the carcass 1 can be shown across as wide an area as possible.

Formed on the front side of an intermediate wall 9 separating the evaporator region 3 from the first refrigerating region 4 (see FIG. 2) is an air-inlet opening 10 through which air can enter the evaporator region 3 from the first refrigerating region 4. Pipes through which air can flow from the second refrigerating region 6 to the evaporator region 3 can—not visible in the figure—extend in side walls of the carcass 1; another possibility, shown in FIG. 1, is an air pipe 11 inside the door 2 that begins at the height of the second refrigerating region 6 and ends opposite the air-inlet opening 10 and whose course is indicated in the figure by dashed lines.

Secured adjacent to the rear wall 8 on the intermediate wall 9 is a distributor hood 12 in which are formed a multiplicity of air holes 13 through which cold air originating in the evaporator region 3 passes and is distributed in various directions in the top part of the first refrigerating region 4. Located beneath the distributor hood 12 on the rear wall 8 are a plurality of pairs of openings 14 from which cold air can likewise flow. The height of said pairs of openings 14 is selected such that each pair of openings 14 will cater to a compartment when supports for items requiring to be refrigerated have been mounted in the first refrigerating region 4.

FIG. 2 shows the refrigerating device shown in FIG. 1 in a section along a center plane, shown in FIG. 1 by a dot-and-dash line II, extending vertically and in the depth direction of the carcass 1. Condensing coils that belong to an evaporator 15 and against which air penetrating through the air-inlet opening 10 flows can be seen in the section inside the evaporator region 3. The intermediate wall 9 slopes toward the rear wall 8 of the carcass 1 down to a conduit 16 in which condensation water dripping from the evaporator 15 collects. The condensation water reaches an evaporator housed in the base region 17 (see FIG. 1) of the carcass 1 via a pipeline (not shown).

Housed behind the conduit 16, adjacent to the rear wall 8, is a blower comprising a motor 18, a bucket wheel 19 driven thereby, and a housing 20. Formed on the front side of the housing 20 in the axial direction of the bucket wheel 19 is an intake opening. The top half of the housing 20 extends circumferentially close around the bucket wheel 19; the housing 20 is downwardly open so that air accelerated radially outward by rotating of the bucket wheel 19 flows away into a chamber 21.

A hinged flap 22 is housed in said chamber 21. In the position shown in the figure the flap 22 obstructs a cold-air supply opening 23 leading vertically downward to the first refrigerating region 4. The air is thereby forced toward the rear wall 8 and down into a cold-air supply path 24 which inside the rear wall 8, separated from the first refrigerating region 4 by a thin insulating layer 25, leads to the second refrigerating region 6. When the flap 22 hinged to an intermediate wall 26 between the cold-air supply opening 23 and cold-air supply pipe 24 is brought into a vertical position shown in the figure in dotted outline form, it will obstruct the cold-air supply path 24 and the stream of cold air will reach the distributor hood 12 through the cold-air supply opening 23. One of the air holes 13 through which air flows out of the distributor hood 12 into the first refrigerating region 4 can be seen in the figure. Openings situated outside the sectional plane in the rear wall of the distributor hood 12 and the insulating layer feed two channels extending on both sides of the cold-air supply path 24 and supplying the openings 14.

The cold-air supply path 24 leads to a cold-air feeder opening 37 of the second refrigerating region 6 and there reaches an air-distribution chamber 27 in an air-ducting housing 28 mounted beneath the intermediate base 5. A vertical partition 29 separates the air-distribution chamber 27 occupying the back region of the air-ducting housing 28 from an air-collecting chamber 30 occupying the front region. Formed in a baseplate 31 of the air-ducting housing 28 are a multiplicity of openings 32 (see FIG. 7) via which cold air from the air-distribution chamber 27 exits into the second refrigerating region 6 or, as the case may be, enters the air-collecting chamber 30 from there.

An air-discharge opening 33 on the side, facing the door 2, of the air-collecting chamber 30 is situated opposite an inlet opening of the air pipe 11 extending back through the door 2 to the evaporator region 3. A flexible sealing strip 34 made of rubber that is secured to the front edge of the intermediate base 5 and compressed between it and the door 2 prevents air from passing from the collecting chamber 30 and second refrigerating region 6 to the first refrigerating region 4, insuring thereby that cold air can be applied to the two refrigerating regions 4, 6 separately and without their influencing each other.

FIG. 3 is a perspective exploded view of the intermediate base 5. A plate belonging to the intermediate base 5 comprises an inner layer 38 cut to size from a plate made of an expanded synthetic-resin material such as EPS, surrounded by impervious outer layers, here in the form of an opaque glass plate 39 forming the plate's top side and a thin, solid plastic plate or metal sheet 40. The layers 38, 39, 40 are held together by means of extruded plastic profiles 41, 42 plugged onto their front and back edges. The front profile 42 consists of two parts attached on both sides of a central recess 43 to the front edge of the foam plate 38. The recess 43 is provided for accommodating an electronics module 44 whose front side sits in the assembled condition flush with the outer surfaces of the profile parts 42. A cable channel 45 in the form of a downwardly open groove extends from the recess 43 on the underside of the foam plate 38.

Arranged on the front side of the electronics module 44 is a control panel 46 that has display elements and/or buttons 47 and on which a user is able to read the temperature currently prevailing in the second refrigerating region 6 or the desired value for said temperature and set the desired value.

A likewise extruded decorative profile 48 is provided for plugging onto the electronics module 44 and the profiles 42 bordering it and concealing them, except for the control panel 46, which remains accessible via a window 49 cut into the decorative profile 48.

The decorative profile 48 does not extend across the entire width of the intermediate base 5; head joints 50 of injection-molded lateral enclosing parts 51 sit flush against each of its ends. The two enclosing parts 51 are shaped mutually mirror-symmetrically for being plugged onto the right-hand or, as the case may be, left-hand edge of the plate formed by the layers 38, 39, 40. Only the right-hand of the two enclosing parts 51 is shown in FIG. 3.

Molded onto a rear end of the enclosing part 51 is a trough 52 that accommodates an electric plug-in connector. Inter alia the electronics module 44 is powered via said plug-in connector and the cable channel 45 ending in the vicinity of the trough 52.

A plug-in connector (not shown) that is complementary to the plug-in connector accommodated in the trough 52 is mounted on the rear wall 8 so that the two plug-in connectors can be contacted by simply pushing the intermediate base 5 into the interior space of the carcass 1.

FIG. 4 is a detail of a section through the front edge of the intermediate base 5 with the two front profiles 42, 48. The profile 42 has on its rear two grooves in which the glass plate 39 or, as the case may be, metal sheet 40 is held. The sealing strip 34 is secured in position in a downwardly oriented groove in the profile 42. The decorative profile 48 engages around the top and front side of the profile 42 from the top side of the glass plate 39 up to a notch 53 on the underside of the profile 42, into which notch the decorative profile 48 has been snapped into place.

Extending along the underside of the profile 42 behind the notch 53 is a downwardly open groove into which the sealing strip 34 has been inserted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the enclosing parts 51 also have in each case inwardly oriented grooves in which the glass plate 39 and metal sheet 40 are held. Two webs 54 that extend along the outer side of the enclosing part 51 engage into grooves on a support rail 55 anchored to the side wall 35 of the carcass 1. The side wall 35 comprises in a manner known per se a deep-drawn plastic inner wall plate 56 which, together with an outer wall plate (not shown), delimits a hollow space filled with insulating foam 57. To achieve a high degree of support capability on the part of the intermediate base 5 given a not very thick inner wall plate 56, the support rail 55 is held thereon with the aid of a counterrail 58 sited parallel to the support rail 55 against the foam side of the inner wall plate 56 and joined to the support rail 55 by means of screws 59 or rivets. The webs 54 engaging into the grooves in the support rail 55 form a labyrinth seal mutually segregating the two refrigerating regions 4, 6 in a splash proof manner and also preventing an exchange of air between them. A tight fit between the webs 54 and the grooves is not necessary and would act more as a hindrance during installation of the intermediate base 5.

FIG. 6 shows in a section analogous to that shown in FIG. 5 how the intermediate base 5 is suspended on the side wall 35 according to a second embodiment of the invention. The inner wall plate 56 is here made of metal such as aluminum or high-grade steel and so is a good thermal conductor. To prevent an undesired exchange of heat between the refrigerating regions 4, 6 the wall plate 56 is interrupted at the height of the intermediate base 5 and the support rail 55 engages into a gap 59 between the two parts of the wall plate 56. Because the support rail 55 rests along its entire length on the top edge of the bottom part of the wall plate 56 it can bear a large weight of the intermediate base 5 and of any items requiring to be refrigerated placed thereon. A profile 60 that extends along and bridges the gap 59 and is held pressed against the support rail 55 with the aid of screws 61 or suchlike can be provided inside the side wall 35 to prevent an ingress of foam into the gap 59.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the air-ducting housing 28 mentioned already with reference to FIG. 2. It is shaped like a flat box having side walls 62, a front wall 63 which in the perspective shown FIG. 7 is turned away from the observer and in which the air-discharge opening 33 is formed, and an open rear. The partition 29 between the air-distribution chamber 27 and air-collecting chamber 30 surrounds a flat-cylindrical, downwardly open hollow space 64 provided for accommodating an electric illuminating means for illuminating the bottom refrigerating region 6. The power supply for said illuminating means extends through a bore hole (not shown) in the metal sheet 40 covering the top side of the air-ducting housing 28 and through the cable channel 45 traversing said bore hole.

A further downwardly open recess 65 in the air-ducting housing 28 is provided for accommodating a temperature sensor for registering the temperature in the second refrigerating region 6. The recess 65 is in the assembled condition located in the immediate vicinity of the trough 52, accommodating the plug-in connector, in the right-hand enclosing part 51 so that a cable carrying a measuring signal from the temperature sensor can be conveyed to the electronics module 44 along the entire length of the cable channel 45.

FIG. 8 shows a possible way of installing the air-ducting housing 28. The enclosing part 51 has in this section analogous to that shown in FIG. 6 been expanded to include a downwards oriented, bent web 66 that engages around the air-ducting housing 28 and allows said housing to be inserted drawer-like underneath the intermediate base 5 or to be pulled out and removed so that the space it occupies can, if need be, be utilized for items requiring to be refrigerated. 

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A refrigerating device comprising: a housing having side walls; an interior space within the housing; and a thermally insulating intermediate base disposed in the interior space at a location at which the intermediate base subdivides the interior space into two zones each of whose respective temperature can be controlled substantially mutually independently of the temperature of the other zone, and the intermediate base is formed in a modular manner of individual elements that are principally semi-finished individual elements.
 23. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22, wherein the intermediate base has a sandwich-type structure and includes at least one plate-type support element optimally resistant to bending.
 24. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22, wherein the intermediate base includes at least two plate-type support elements that are optimally resistant to bending and a layer made of thermally-insulating material is arranged between the two plate-type support elements.
 25. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 24, wherein the support elements exhibit different degrees of abrasion resistance and a respective one of the support elements serves as a covering layer and has a degree of abrasion resistance greater than the degree of abrasion resistance of the other support element.
 26. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 25, wherein the support element serving as the covering layer is formed from at least one of a glass, a ceramic material, a glass ceramic, or metal.
 27. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22, wherein the intermediate base includes a plate bordered along its front and back edge by extrusion profiles.
 28. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 27, wherein the plate is bordered along its lateral edges by injection-molded parts.
 29. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 28, wherein at least one of the injection-molded parts is provided on a rear end with a plug-in cable connector.
 30. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 27, wherein the plate has an inner layer made of porous material and at least one outer layer substantially impervious to humidity.
 31. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 30 and further comprising a cable channel recessed in the inner layer of the plate.
 32. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22, wherein the intermediate base supports at least one of a temperature sensor and illuminating means.
 33. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22 and further comprising an electronics module attached to the front edge of the intermediate base.
 34. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 33, wherein the electronics module includes control and/or display elements that are freely exposed through a window in an extrusion profile attached to the front edge.
 35. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 33, wherein the electronics module includes an extrusion profile, the extrusion profile attached to the front edge is divided into two parts, and the electronics module is arranged between the two parts of the extrusion profile.
 36. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22 and further comprising a seal attached between a front edge of the intermediate base and a door of the refrigerating device.
 37. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22 and further comprising an air-distribution chamber that communicates with a cold-air feeder pipe extending in a wall of the housing and, via distributed openings, with a respective one of the two zones that is located beneath the intermediate base and that is arranged on the underside of the intermediate base.
 38. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22 and further comprising an air-collecting chamber that communicates via distributed openings both with a respective one of the two zones that is located beneath the intermediate base and with a warm-air extraction pipe extending in a wall of the housing, the air-collecting chamber being arranged on the underside of the intermediate base.
 39. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 37, wherein the air-distribution chamber and air-collecting chamber each extend over a part of the intermediate base and an illuminating-means housing is arranged on a boundary between the two chambers.
 40. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22 and further comprising a horizontal securing profile into which lateral edges of the intermediate base engage and that is attached to each side wall of the housing.
 41. The refrigerating device as claimed in claim 22, wherein the side walls of the housing have a metallic inner coating and the inner coating is interrupted at the height of the intermediate base. 